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Legislative Process

The House of Commons spends a great deal of time debating and voting on bills and is considered
the major law-making body of Parliament. The House is solely responsible for introducing any bill
that either collects or spends public funds. Government bills that are introduced in the
House of Commons are prefixed with the letter "C" and are numbered consecutively from -1 to -200,
while private Members' bills are numbered consecutively from -201 to -1000. The Senate or
"Upper House" is appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister.
Senators lack the power of initiating financial legislation. Senate bills are prefixed with
the letter "S" and private bills mostly introduced by the Senate are numbered at 1001 and
higher.
Current Canadian
House and Senate bills maybe found at the Parliament Website. The path a Canadian bill is
as follows:

Introduction: The process begins when a bill is introduced.

First Reading: The bill is "read" for the first time, without debate, and
printed.

Second Reading: The principle of the bill is debated. It is then voted on and the
bill is sent to a parliamentary committee.

Committee Stage: A committee hears witnesses, examines the bill clause by clause
and submits a report recommending the bill be accepted as is or with amendments, or that it not
proceed any further.

Report Stage: Additional amendments to the bill may be moved, debated and voted
on.

Third Reading: The bill is debated a final time and voted on.

Message: Once passed, the bill is sent to the Senate, where the process starts
again from first reading.

Royal Assent: The Governor General or a deputy gives the bill Royal Assent.

LEGISInfo
is a Website used to search Canadian House or Senate bills. Includes Government bills, and
Private Members' Public bills for the House of Commons and is searchable from the 37th Parliament
(2001) to the present.

Consolidated Acts and Regulations provides simple and
advanced search options of current laws and regulations of the Canadian government. This site
also provides links to several important resources for case law, bills, regulations, reference
documents, income tax law, and frequently accessed statutes.

Canada Gazette is the official newspaper of
the Canadian government and publishes notices and proposed regulations, official egulations, and
Acts of Parliament.